Four strategies to mitigate the effects of the phenomenon of El Niño on the electric sector of Latin America

To address a risk mitigation strategy for the electric sector, it is necessary to know the level of exposure or fragility of the physical infrastructure, social and ecologic fragility, and the lack of resilience or capacity of the system to respond or recover, as the risk within the sector does not depend exclusively on the probability of occurrence of natural phenomena, but on the conditions of vulnerability in the institutional, physical, social, ecologic, and cultural aspects. 

A successful methodology for these situations is the comprehensive management of risk, as explained by Esperanza Colón, advisor on environmental issues. The methodology outlines the risks of a process facing a potential disaster situation in three dimensions: prevention, mitigation, and learning for the long term. 

A comprehensive management of risk in the electric sector of Latin America, when the El Niño is at its peak, must have started a stage for the prevention and prospective planning for risk, and the critical areas of the physical exposure levels of the generation, transmission, and distribution infrastructure, identifying the potential impact on the communities.  

 Following we will present four important factors that must be taken into consideration when developing a risk management strategy: 

1. Identify the risk: includes the individual perception, social representation, and objective risk estimate. To be able to intervene the risk, it is necessary to measure it, recognize it, represent it in maps, simulation models, and data analysis that are useful and subject to interpretation by decision makers. 
2. Reduce the risk: understand the application of structural and non-structural measures for prevention and/or mitigation, this factor includes an important component of prospective planning and application of measures that allow to modify the conditions of risk with preventive and corrective actions. 
3. Have financial protection: the organizations responsible for the sector's risk management must provide financial mechanisms such as disaster funds or contingent lines of credit, to respond effectively to the phenomenon. This must incorporate elements of governance, institutional framework, and risk transfer. It is a critical factor for success in the planning and sustainability of development and, therefore, the economic growth of countries. 
4. Develop plans for disaster management: the companies and authorities involved in the electric sector must have updated master plans for the management of disasters and the continuity of the business, understanding the elements related to an adequate response and recovery from the disaster.